Trust in Online Communities

According to Ling, Traxler and Rao (2016), development of trust begins with the pre-use stage where trust arises in relation to the personal information that users provide to the service provider. The next aspect of trust, the use stage, is in relation to the type of information provided to the system (input trust) and information being co-produced on, and disseminated from, the system (output trust). At this stage, credibility of information is related to factors like social validation and feedback.

Let's look at how Airbnb develop trust in the use stage.

Airbnb is a trusted community marketplace for people to list, discover and book unique accommodation around the world. It is the easiest way for people to monetise their extra space and showcase it to an audience of millions worldwide. In Airbnb, users must set up a detailed profile with their real names rather than an Internet pseudonym. Users can also provide ID verification, which allows Airbnb to verify their profile against their IDs on other platforms. This provides credibility to the information provided by the users.

Source: https://www.airbnb.com.sg/users/show/25440271

With this profile, users are allowed to give personal reviews of their hosts and/or guests. When there are real names tied to each review, it gives users a sense of trustworthiness and credibility of the authors.

Source: https://www.airbnb.com.sg/users/show/25440271

When looking at consumer-generated information online, trust relies on whether the information is reliable. Airbnb maintains reliability of the information on their website by getting users to create detailed profiles and provide ID verification. This helps to build trust between the host and the guest, and ultimately within the Airbnb community.

References

Ling, R., Traxler, J. and Rao, A. (2016) Elements of trust in an open model: exploring the role and place of trust in open education and urban services in the global south. [pdf] Singapore: Singapore Internet Research Centre (SIRCA White Paper 3). Available at: <http://www.sirca.org.sg/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/Ling_WhitePaper.pdf>